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Friday, 25 January 2013

Half-Blood Review

﻿The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

My Review

This book blew my mind.

This work of absolute genius, written by the most amazing author ever, Jennifer Armentrout, made my heart beat at 100mph, and then stop completely within the turn of a page.

Half-Blood is the first book in the 5-book Covenant series, with 2 Novellas. Within 3 days, I read both novellas and the 3 books that have been released so far. I could physically not remove myself from the book, I was unable to put it down once I'd started, I couldn't sleep until I knew what was happening or until I was satisfied that something absolutely crazy wasn't going to erupt within the story.

I've read many reviews about this book, and a lot say that it is "identical" to the Vampire Academy series, however I completely disagree. I have read both the Covenant and the first few books in the Vampire Academy series, and whilst I did enjoy the VA books to an extent, I have to admit it did not fill me with a sense of excitement or joy. The general storyline is sliiiightly similar with regards to the Pure, Half-Blood, Hematoi, Deimon element, however the characters are totally different, and I felt it was easier to relate (although our lives were totally different) to the characters created by Miss Armentrout in Half-Blood. Even the secondary characters grabbed your attention, such as Deacon, Lea, Caleb, Seth (who does become a huuuuge part of all the future books!), Leon, and Kain. They each have their own back-story, and I honestly felt sympathy and hatred towards certain characters, and not once did I feel that one of these people were useless towards the story line, they all added something vitally important, like a secret ingredient in that perfect home-baking recipe!

The lead character, Alex, is sarcastic and edgy and brings out a whole new side of me! She makes me want to be better, to improve, to work harder, and she fills me with a similar feeling that Buffy Summers from Buffy The Vampire Slayer did, in the way that I wanted to learn to fight and be able to protect myself and others around me. Alex was portrayed as both vulnerable and strong simultaneously, and Jennifer's use of Greek Mythology and the twist that happens within the story brings a whole new side to the traditional paranormal-romance/forbidden love books that I read. The forbidden love relationship between the gorgeous, sexy, unbelievable attractive Pure-Blood Aiden and feisty Alex is at moments so intense and overwhelming that you can't help praying that the relationship works out, and you root for them, even though you may want Aiden all to yourself (I know I do!).

Overall, I would recommend this book to anybody; friends, families, book-lovers, and strangers I meet on the street! What a fantastic start, to a FANTASTIC series!